Unexpectedly Under the Misteltoe
by pandorabox82
Summary: Roxanna decides to go to Serena's staff Christmas party, even though she knows that Henrik will be there as well. Serena seems intent on making certain that at least one of them has a happy Christmas, and sets Roxanna up beneath the mistletoe. But will Henrik be receptive to that particular holiday tradition?


The staff party was in full swing when Roxanna finally made it to Serena's house. She had gotten lost in paperwork at the end of her day and it was only when she had looked up to answer a question from Lofty that she realized how late it was. Putting a pin in the paperwork, she had decided to finish it all tomorrow before hurrying over to the party, hoping beyond hope that Henrik had decided to make an appearance. She knew that he had returned from Sweden last week, though they hadn't managed to reconnect just yet, not with her having to tow such a close line with Max McGerry.

Smiling a little, she handed Jason her coat, letting him hang it in the closet as she made her way into the living room. A small flush spread across her cheeks when she saw that Henrik was deep in conversation with Sacha, and she let out a little sigh as she went over to the sideboard and picked up a glass of punch, sipping at it slowly as she tried to figure out just what she was going to say to him. _Sorry I didn't email you, I wanted to give you space_? That sounded too trite. And while it was true, sort of, it didn't cut to the heart of the matter. She hadn't contacted him because she hadn't wanted to hear that he had reunited with Maja and was never coming home. Roxanna had finally come to terms with the fact that she was more than a little in love with her best friend, and had spent the last six months wondering if she had come by that realization too late.

"Staring a hole into his chest isn't going to get you anywhere, Rox."

She looked over to see that Serena had sidled over to her at some point, a knowing smirk on her lips. "He's busy talking to Sacha, and I wouldn't want to interrupt that. He's not even back to work yet, so there's no reason for us to talk."

Serena tried to swallow her snarky little laugh, but failed, choking on the noise a little as she shook her head. "And I am the Queen. You need to clear the negative thinking from your mind and just go over there and talk to him. If it would make things easier, do it while he's still talking to Sacha. Or wait here for me to send him your way. It's your choice, but I know that you need to take the bull by the horns at some point."

Roxanna frowned a little as she glanced down into her punch. "What if I find out that he's moved on because I didn't contact him while he was in Sweden. He was so faithful to me during my recovery, and then we just drifted apart. I lost something that I didn't know I wanted until he and Oskar were gone."

"And now you have the opportunity to rebuild that relationship." Serena glanced upwards, a wicked little grin slipping across her face before she sashayed over to Sacha and Henrik. Roxanna quietly groaned as she watched Henrik look up and give her a questioning look. She shrugged one shoulder before looking around the room, trying to find someone there she could connect with. Seeing no one, she instead focused on her punch and tried to calm her suddenly racing heart.

Roxanna was still staring at the ground when she saw Henrik's shoes come up to her, stopping in such a way that she knew if she raised her eyes that she would be looking up into his face. Taking a deep breath, she ran her eyes up his body until she was gazing into his eyes. There was a look there that she couldn't quite place, and she rubbed her lips together as she glanced up at the ceiling, only to let out a low groan. "I didn't think you'd be that upset to see me, Roxanna."

"It's not you, Henrik. I swear, I didn't plan this, but…look up. Serena's planted us under the mistletoe right now." Henrik followed her gaze upwards, and she felt herself watching his expression anxiously, wanting to see if she could tell how he felt about being caught out like this.

"Well, it wouldn't do to fly in the face of tradition, now would it?" he asked, and Roxanna tried to tamp down the quick grin that tried to spread across her face at those words. Still, she ended up smirking a little as she shrugged once more, allowing her eyes to focus on him.

"I suppose not," she replied before clearing her throat and waiting for him to make the first move. She wasn't bold enough to close the small gap between them, to lift herself up on her tiptoes and capture his lips in a tender kiss, to wrap her arm around his neck and hold him in place as their friends and colleagues watched. And then, before she could gather another coherent thought, he was leaning down, one hand reaching out to cup her face as his lips brushed against hers in one of the softest kisses she had ever received.

The kiss was brief, but perfect, and Roxanna felt her heart flutter a little as he stood up fully, looking at her in a bit of shock and wonder. "Do you want to go to the kitchen and talk for a little while?" he asked, brushing a lock of her hair behind her ear.

"Yes," she instantly replied, turning on her heel and heading out of the room they were currently in. She had been in Serena's home once before, and had a vague memory of where the kitchen was, and she made her way there, clinging tightly to her punch as she went along. "I hope Serena doesn't mind us traipsing through her home," she said lowly as she turned into the kitchen, heading straight to the table and taking a seat, not looking at Henrik as he sat down across from her.

"I think that she understands that we need some time and space to talk. For instance, you seem to be doing your best to avoid me completely. If you hadn't shown up here tonight, how long would it have taken you to say anything to me?"

She shrugged a little as she set the cup on the table in order to wrap her arms around her torso, feeling the urge to protect herself. Roxanna knew that Henrik would never intentionally hurt her, but she was still so wary of what might be said between them. There was so much that she wanted to know about his time in Sweden, but the topic that she knew she would dance around, the unspoken elephant in the room, would be Maja. "I was trying to think of a way to apologise, honestly. I ghosted you, after everything you did to make certain that I was all right, and I don't know why I did that. But I missed you."

"I missed you, too. My good friend took his own life, my other good friend wasn't speaking to me, and I was trying to raise my grandson since his mother couldn't pull herself together enough to do just that. And then I had to go home to Sweden in order to ease that transition back to her taking care of him, because we bonded quite tightly in the months that he was with me."

Roxanna felt tears prickle her eyes as she nodded. "I wanted children," she whispered, wondering why that particular revelation was spilling off her tongue at that moment. "David couldn't see himself as a father, though, so we never started a family. I made my peace with it long ago, but I guess that it still knocks the wind from me at times. Seeing you with Oskar, well, it hurt. And I didn't want to be a damp towel on your happiness with him. I wanted the two of you to thrive."

She didn't add in the fact that she didn't want to stop him from getting back together with Maja, since she didn't want to open that particular can of worms. "I would have been happy to share him with you, Roxanna. He needed a good, strong, female influence in his life, and while Essie tried to provide that, there was just something…well, suffice it to say, I found her presence to be a bit cloying, especially after the way she had worked so closely with John and had never noticed just how far he was straying off course." Roxanna noticed his hand creeping over the wood of the table, and she allowed her shoulders to relax a little as she met him halfway with her own arm, making certain to rest her hand so that it was palm up, a soft sigh escaping her lips when he took hold of her hand and squeezed it softly. "I would have enjoyed getting to know you better, too, because the people we've become in the last few decades are so different from the children we were at Rigden."

"You may have been a child then," she teased as she tightened her fingers around his hand, squeezing softly. "I was thoroughly grown up during my time there."

He chuckled as he shook his head. "And yet you dyed your hair pink. Bubblegum pink. That isn't the most grown up, now is it?"

"It's just hair, it will grow back no matter what you do to it. Hopefully. At least I think that mine has come back all right," she replied somewhat self-consciously as she pulled her hand free from his to touch her now shoulder length locks. After waking up from her coma with half of her head shaved from the surgeries, she had wanted a change, had not wanted to be reminded of that time, and so had allowed her hair to grow.

"You look lovely, Roxanna. I always did like your hair that length." A soft blush stole across her cheeks as she looked down at the table and took a deep, shaky, breath. "Are you happy?"

"That's a loaded question." Henrik gave her a small shrug, and she drew a deep breath in through her nose as she reached out for his hand once more. Threading their fingers together, Roxanna took another deep breath before raising her eyes to look at him. "No, I am not happy. I feel like I have to keep looking over my shoulder when it comes to McGerry, since I don't think that she fully trusts my abilities to be a neurosurgeon. Things are changing at work so rapidly that I keep feeling like my head is constantly spinning. I was so focused on myself that I didn't even see how badly Jac was struggling, and I feel so badly that I couldn't help her. And then you come home, but you're not back at the hospital, and I just feel a little lost right now. The first thing that's felt right to me in months is when you kissed me, and that was only because we were under the mistletoe. You didn't really want to kiss, you were just following tradition."

Henrik's hand gripped hers tightly as he got to his feet and she frowned a little as he tugged her gently to her feet before using his free hand to tip her chin upwards, continuing to gaze into her eyes. "Is this just tradition?" he whispered before kissing her sweetly. Her entire body melted against his, welcoming the way he let go of her hand to wrap his arm around her waist in order to hold her upright. "Well?" he asked against her lips, and she trembled a little as a shiver of pleasure ran down her spine.

"Perhaps not, no." Closing her eyes, she pressed her lips tighter to his once more, relishing the kiss as his hand slid up her back to cup her head, holding her close as the kiss deepened. A tiny whimper broke from her lips when he finally released her lips, and Roxanna staggered against him a little, rubbing her cheek against his jumper as she tried to catch her breath.

"Henrik? Roxanna? Where di you disappear to?" Serena asked and she had to fight her natural urge to pull away from Henrik, because she wasn't embarrassed to be caught in a clinch, though she didn't know how he would feel at being discovered. It almost seemed as if he was on the same wavelength, as he pulled her closer to his torso once more, turning them so that Roxanna was blocked by his body from the doorway. "Oh! I didn't mean to interrupt anything here. Can I get either of you anything?"

Roxanna peeked around his body, shaking her head a little as she gave Serena a quick smile. "I think that we're good, Serena. Thank you for asking, though. And if we head out here in a few minutes. I have the feeling that we'll need to continue our conversation in a little more private place." Roxanna felt her cheeks flush deeply as Serena gave her a knowing wink as she nodded.

"I will leave you to that, then. Be kind to her, Henrik. She needs a tender touch after all that Max has been putting her through." The smirk left her face as she gave Roxanna a tender smile. "I don't know how much longer I'll be able to admonish you like this, Henrik, so take it graciously."

He nodded as he smiled at Roxanna. "I shall try to keep that in mind, Serena. Though I know that you'll be around for years to come. Who else will be the thorn in my side when I take up my scalpel once more, after all?"

"I'm certain that any number of people would be willing to take up that banner after me, Henrik, starting with that lovely woman in your arms. But you should know, if you ever tire of him…"

Roxanna giggled as she shook her head a little. "There's no way that I could ever think to slip into Bernie's place in your life. Even if I did like women." Serena nodded, another wink coming her way before she turned on her heel and left them alone once more. "So, do you want to head to my house for a cup of coffee?"

"I think that I'd like that very much, Roxanna," he replied as he tucked her hair behind her ears, the smile on his face so peaceful and gorgeous to her. Before she could say another word, he was leaning forward to press a tender kiss to her forehead, causing her to tear up in response. And she knew that wherever things led from this point, at the very least, she had her best friend back in her life.


End file.
